The present invention pertains generally to flat ribbon cables and more particularly to an adaptor for effecting a coplanar angular routing of a multiconductor flat ribbon cable.
The advance in the electronic computer industry, along with the miniaturization of electronic circuitry, has had the effect of modularizing electronic functions. In an electronic system environment employing modular functions there remains a need to effect communications between the modules. The multiconductor flat ribbon cable is well adapted to fill this need insofar as an entire cable may be assembled and installed in minutes without utilizing conventional wire harnesses, tie-downs, wire wrap or solder connections.
However, the flat ribbon cable is not without the attendant disadvantage of being cumbersome to route in directions coplanar to the cable. It is a conventional practice to simply overlap the cable on itself to effect a desired routing scheme and tie or clip the cable to adjacent framework. The disadvantage with this method is that a permanent cable route is accomplished by sharply bending or creasing the cable and the embedded conductors. This routing technique produces a serious strain in both the cable and conductor materials.
Another approach for routing and retaining flat ribbon cables is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,965 entitled "Flat Ribbon Cable Retainer". Such a scheme, however, suffers from the disadvantage that the retainer itself is comprised of a complicated bulky structure thereby rendering the manufacture thereof difficult and expensive. Moreover, the flat cable must still be subjected to sharp creases.
With the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an angle adaptor for use in routing a flat ribbon cable without the necessity of subjecting the cable to sharp creases.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an angle adaptor around which a flat ribbon cable is folded rather than being enclosed within.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a compact, one-piece easily manufacturable angle adaptor to facilitate the routing of a flat ribbon cable.
The foregoing objects, as well as others, and the means by which they are achieved through the present invention, may best be appreciated by referring to the Detailed Description of the Invention which follows hereinafter together with the appended drawings.